JURI Committee Meeting

STANDING COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

COMITÉ PERMANENT DE LA JUSTICE ET DES DROITS DE LA PERSONNE

EVIDENCE

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

Tuesday, October 6, 1998

• 0906

[English]

The Clerk of the Committee: Order. Hon. members, I see a quorum.

Your first item of business is to elect the chair, in accordance with Standing Orders 106(1) and (2).

[Translation]

Honourable members, we have a quorum. Pursuant to Standing Orders 106(1) and 106(2), your first item of business is choosing a chairman for the committee.

[English]

I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

[Translation]

I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

[English]

Mr. Ovid L. Jackson (Bruce—Grey, Lib.): Mr. Chair, I'd like to nominate Shaughnessy Cohen as chair of this committee.

Mr. John Reynolds (West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, Ref.): I'll second that motion.

The Clerk: It has been moved by Mr. Jackson, seconded by Mr. Reynolds, that Shaughnessy Cohen do take the chair of the committee.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

The Clerk: I declare Shaughnessy Cohen duly elected chair, and I invite her to take the chair.

The Chair (Ms. Shaughnessy Cohen (Windsor—St. Clair, Lib.)): Thanks, Roger, and thanks to all of you.

The second order of business is the election of vice-chairs. Do I have a first motion?

John.

Mr. John Reynolds: I nominate Chuck Cadman as a vice-chair.

Mr. Paul DeVillers (Simcoe North, Lib.): I nominate John Maloney for vice-chair.

The Chair: Are there any objections to either of those vice-chairs? Then we'll do both motions at once.

(Motions agreed to)

The Chair: Okay. We have Maloney and we have Cadman as vice-chairs.

We have new people here, and old people coming back. I'd like to take a moment to let people know what's on the books right now and where we should go. Then I'd like to take some advice as to whether the steering committee should meet this afternoon or tomorrow.

We should talk about the steering committee as well. On this committee in the past the make-up of the steering committee has been the chair, the two vice-chairs, one parliamentary secretary—but that rotates, depending on whose business we're discussing—and a member from each of the Bloc, the NDP and the Conservative Party.

We operate that by consensus. If we can't reach consensus, then the vote goes to the full committee. So if everybody is agreeable, we'll just carry on with that.

As you're looking at these documents, you'll see that the first item of business is the role of victims in the criminal justice system.

• 0910

Last spring we gave instructions to our staff with respect to this report, and the first draft is ready. The translations are just being adjusted a little bit. So we're ready to circulate them to all committee members.

Subject to what anyone else might have to say, I was going to suggest that this be the first order of business at our next full meeting. I think we can get that distributed today or tomorrow.

The Clerk: I have it here with me.

The Chair: Oh, then we can distribute it today to everyone.

I know there's no point in starting it this afternoon, John, because you won't have been with us, and nobody has read it.

I've had a preview, and I think it's pretty...everybody will agree, I think, on the bulk of it. If we can take a look at that, maybe we can knock it off the week we get back and get on with our new business, including Bill C-40, a new extradition act, which is I think pretty high on at least the government's priority list, and probably on all of yours.

Bill C-50, the Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act, is number one.

It's always ominous when you have something numbered as “number one”.

Bill C-51, which amends the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, is an omnibus bill that the provincial attorneys general are quite anxious to have passed. I understand that to be a priority for the government. We should receive it today.

The impaired driving.... In the review of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, you will recall that we had discussed having a subcommittee that John Maloney would handle to deal with this. I'm just in the course of talking to our House leader to make sure that happens. That, though, is conditional upon what happens with impaired driving.

I've had two or three meetings now in person and by phone with Dick Harris, who was the author of the impaired driving motion. He and I, subject to the agreement of House leaders, have agreed that we could extend the limit on that to May 15 in order to do a good job. I understand that Dick has been talking to the Reform House leader, and I sent a letter to that effect to my House leader today.

He had some some conditions that I think our committee regularly do anyway. He was concerned that we wouldn't have a full slate of the kinds of witnesses that Reform would want, but in fact we didn't disagree on witnesses any more than once, I think, last term, so I don't think that's a problem.

He would like to have notice from our committee as though he were a member on when that work is coming up, and I see no reason to disagree with that. There are some other conditions.

So that's with the House leaders now. I've sent a letter to them, and I'll keep you posted on that.

If we can deal with that on an extended timeframe, I think we can first of all do a very good job, and second, I think it'll make for a more comfortable year and it'll allow us to fit the other things in.

Then we have two private members' bills coming up. The first one, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act, is Colleen Beaumier's bill. Its limit comes up on October 21, 1998. So we have to either deal with that or it goes back as is to the House, and I think members will agree that it's an interesting bill.

Michel.

[Translation]

Mr. Michel Bellehumeur (Berthier—Montcalm, BQ): There is one topic that is not on the list. I know that the Department of Justice is hard at work preparing an important bill for the purpose of amending the Young Offenders Act. Have you any idea of when that bill be studied by the House, and subsequently by the committee?

[English]

The Chair: This list, Michel, is only things that we know we have right now, not things that are coming.

So that's what we have to deal with so far this fall. As you know, once we start it's relentless.

• 0915

Mr. Derek Lee (Scarborough—Rouge River, Lib.): Madam Chair.

The Chair: Sure.

Mr. Derek Lee: You slid into impaired driving from the review of CCRA, and I just wanted to indicate that I've strongly advocated that one of our other colleagues, Tom Wappel, work with the committee on that. He was the opposition point man for that legislation when it went through the House five years ago. Since he knows the thing like the back of his hand, I'm either going to substitute him for me or our whip will substitute him. I think the opposition members will find that healthy.

The Chair: As will I. But assuming that we do go ahead with a subcommittee to deal with that, then I think it's open to any party to substitute someone else in. We'll make the call for those names once we've got the go-ahead.

Are there any other issues that colleagues want to discuss now?

Does anybody object to an early steering committee meeting?

I know you have an outstanding motion, Peter, that you want to get there.

Mr. John Maloney (Erie—Lincoln, Lib.): Madam Chair, could we have a meeting after this meeting?

The Chair: We can do it this morning if people want to do that.

Is that a good plan?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

The Chair: Okay.

Then this meeting is adjourned, and we'll go in camera with the steering committee.